The Boat Race 2011: rivals Constantine Louloudis and George Nash hope to form winning team

The ancient Varsity rivalry of the Boat Race will have to be submerged next
month when Constantine Louloudis, the youngest man in last Saturday’s
victorious Oxford crew, joins his defeated opponent, George Nash, in a
coxless pair.

Both viewed as potential Olympians, Nash and Louloudis may have been duelling it out on the Thames at the weekend, but on April 16 they will be rowing in tandem at the final trials for this year’s Great Britain team, with a view to competing at the World Championships in August.

“We haven’t interacted in the last week but I have a huge amount of respect for George,” said Louloudis, 19, who is known to his friends as Stan. “I shook his hand after the race, though not a lot was said.”

The Boat Race’s critics say it has been colonised by American glory-hunters in recent years, but this Oxford crew was an exception. Apart from the bow man, Moritz Hafner, they were made up of pure British beef.

Even Louloudis, whose name reveals his Greek ancestry, has solid connections within the British establishment. His mother Madeleine is a lady-in-waiting to the Princess Royal, so he may have to take a day off training at the end of next month to pay his respects to the Royal Wedding.

A world champion at junior and under-23 levels, Louloudis has remarkable endurance for such a young man. He has been described by Matthew Pinsent — a fellow Old Etonian — as “a bit of a beast”. (Pinsent ought to know, as he was the best exponent of the dreaded ergonometer — or rowing machine, to you and me – that Britain has produced.)

Occupying Oxford’s No 6 seat on Saturday, Louloudis was part of the engine room that fired his crew to a four-length victory. Their “tandem rig” – a set-up in which Nos 4 and 5 both row on the same side — had never been used before in a Boat Race, but it worked brilliantly as they overpowered Cambridge, often achieving more speed in the water despite a lower stroke-rate.

Oxford chose the Surrey station and, after a tightly contested opening, made their move just after the mile post. This proved to be the knockout punch, as Cambridge — who had been strong favourites — buckled. No sooner had open water appeared between the boats than the Dark Blues shot into a dominant lead.

Cambridge optimists were still hoping for a repeat of last year’s comeback, in which their boat reversed a three-quarter length deficit just after Craven Cottage. But this year’s Oxford crew looked slick and almost effortless as they charged down the Barn Elms straight. They even had enough energy left at the end for Hafner to stand up in the boat and brandish his oar triumphantly.

“We just felt relaxed, loose and really in the rhythm,” said Louloudis, who is still waiting to find out whether his classics tutors at Trinity will allow him to postpone his next academic year in a push for the 2012 Olympics. “I wouldn’t want to pre-empt their decision,” he added, “but winning won’t hurt.”

The result was a 10th Boat Race victory for Sean Bowden, the Oxford coach who won twice with Cambridge before swapping sides in 1998. Two more successes will draw him level with Dan Topolski, his Oxford predecessor, whose account of the 1986 “boat race mutiny” was made into the film True Blue.

“I’m staggered to be so close to Dan, because he was such an incredible force in the sport,” said Bowden. “I’m very proud but a lot of my success depends on the support of others.

“I think it’s great when a crew row to their potential,” he added, “and that’s what happened, which is extremely satisfying. It didn’t surprise me, though, because the power was always there, and the personalities. The character of the boat was very high calibre.”

Another redgrave win

Oxford’s women capped off a wonderful weekend for the university with victory at the Henley Boat Races on Sunday afternoon. Cheering the Oxford women on were a proud father and godfather – Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent – as Natalie Redgrave sealed her first win in university colours. It was a notable turn-around for the Oxford crew, who had been substantially slower than Cambridge at Henley Eights Head in mid-February. “We just didn’t know if we could win,” said Natalie Redgrave afterwards. “We knew we had come on a lot but we didn’t know if it was going to be enough.”